Stray Dogs Case Made Me Known: Justice Vikram Nath of Supreme Court, Thanks CJI

Justice Vikram Nath today spoke at the regional conference on Human-Wildlife conflict & co-existence organised by the Kerala State Legal Services Authority under the aegis of National Legal Services Authority.

He referred to a recent order passed by a Supreme Court bench led by him on the issue concerning stray dogs.

"So long I have been known in the legal fraternity for the little work that I do, but I am thankful to the stray dogs for making me known in civil society, not only in this country but world over. And I am also thankful to my Chief Justice for allotting me that matter.", Justice Nath said.

Justice Nath added that he had also been receiving messages that apart from dog lovers even the dogs were giving him blessings and good wishes. "In addition to human good wishes I have their wishes also..", he added. Speaking on the topic, Justice Nath said that our constitution lays down the framework within which we should seek solutions for the growing conflict with wildlife.

Last week, the Supreme Court's bench led by Justice Nath had partly stayed the apex courts' recent order directing relocation of dogs from all localities of Delhi, Ghaziabad, NOIDA, Faridabad, Gurugram as well as areas on the outskirts, to designated shelters / pounds. The bench had also clarified that dogs with rabies and aggressive behaviour shall not be released. Court has further put a bar on public feeding of dogs and directed that dedicated feeding spaces be created for this purpose.

All matters pending before High Courts relating to strays have been directed to be transferred to the Supreme Court for a final policy to be framed.

Supreme Court on August 11 had ordered the removal of all stray dogs from the Delhi NCR region and their consequent relocation to dog shelters/compounds dedicated for them. Notably a bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan had ordered that the strays shall not be released in the localities, even after sterilisation.

Chief Justice of India had agreed to look into the issue amid this order on removal facing serious backlash.

In July the top court had taken suo-moto cognizance of a very disturbing and alarming Newspaper cutting reported by the `Times of India’ in its Delhi edition titled “City Hounded By Strays, Kids Pay Price”. "Everyday, hundreds of dog bites are being reported in the city and the areas on the outskirts, leading to rabies and ultimately young infants, children and aged are falling prey to this dreadful disease. We are shocked to know that on an average 20,000 cases of dog bites are recorded in the country and out of which 2000 incidents happen in Delhi every day", the bench had noted.

As per the Newspaper report amidst the rising threat of stray dog in the national capital, a 6 year old girl by name Chavi Sharma fell prey to multiple dog bites leaving deep wounds on her left leg, arm and palm. Although the inhabitants of the locality complained for several times to the authorities concerned, yet none paid heed to the complaints of the people residing in the said locality. Also, a four year old boy Abhishek Rai was attacked by a pack of stray dogs on 23-7-2025 in Delhi’s Alipur area of Narela when the child was returning from his Anganwadi School. The dogs pounced at his face repeatedly injuring him until few bystanders rushed to his rescue.